


Merry and Bright

by marsakat



Series: Broken People, we're here to fix you (hospital AU) [6]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, First Christmas, Fluff and Angst, M/M, TOPFL Christmas Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 21:32:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13152450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/pseuds/marsakat
Summary: The first Christmas as a married couple was supposed to be perfect, but life as a doctor is always full of unexpected interruptions.





	Merry and Bright

**Author's Note:**

> gasping...panting... here you go. merry christmas. just in time
> 
> and the return of an oldie but goodie AU

Josh loved Christmas and that was a fact Tyler learned early on in their relationship. His innocent, wholehearted enthusiasm was something Tyler adored about him. An endless collection of holiday-themed sweaters and scrubs, seasonal music before the season actually started, how he decorated everything he was allowed to (their home, offices, locker rooms, nurses’ stations-- Tyler drew the line at antlers and red noses on their cars)-- it was Josh’s mission to spread Christmas cheer.

And that's what was so wonderful about him; it wasn't selfish at all. Josh just wanted people to be as happy and excited as he was. It certainly was difficult to do that, especially when you work in a hospital, where so many terribly sad things happen minute by minute. It was noble of him to try, and even more amazing when he succeeded in boosting morale.

Tyler, as a matter of fact, felt like he needed something desperately to cheer him up. Somehow living with the unofficial North Pole Ambassador wasn’t enough to curb his downward spiral. It just felt like all the bad things were piling up.

He knew he should be savouring all the beautiful little Christmas moments with his _brand new husband._

They'd been married that year, were well established in their positions at the hospital, and were supposed to have fun. It just felt so unfair to Tyler that _every_ shift was a bad shift for him. People were taking time off, so he had to cover, and bad shit kept happening whenever he was the most senior doctor in the ER. Everyone had somehow noticed that and kept pointing it out to him, in a way that felt way too cheery and unsympathetic. But they were right, no one else had _multiple_ multiple casualty events happen simultaneously-- car accidents, house fires-- and especially not in the same week.

Tyler personally wanted to launch a campaign of fire prevention when Christmas trees are up, as well as stand by the malls with a sign that said ‘Slow the hell down! You're not Santa! You don't have to deliver presents in one night’. Unfortunately he was too busy to do these vital public safety alerts.

If Josh was as busy as Santa’s elves trying to get people into the Christmas spirit, he tried extra hard to lighten Tyler’s mood. He delivered hot chocolate to Tyler every day they worked together, or packed thermoses and gingerbread cookies in his lunch, to the point Tyler grumbled that his glycohemoglobin was probably off the roof and he'd receive the gift of diabetes this year.

Josh laughed it off, used to Tyler’s moods at this point and immune with the glow of impending Christmas. He knew how to take care of Tyler, being gentle and quietly sweet with low lighting-- illuminating their bedroom with strands of lights. Helping Tyler’s sore feet out of his shoes to soak in warm water with peppermint bath salts. Their Christmas tree in the corner, new fuzzy socks on his feet, the person he loved most holding him while he listed his woes-- he was _supposed_ to feel better, but the fact it was routine now made it so depressing.

It was supposed to be magical to come home from work and find the house decorated and glowing with lights, wreaths and all sorts of lawn ornaments, and an actual sleigh with reindeer in the roof. But his heart was too heavy, soul too melancholy to even crack a smile at the hard work. It's hard to feel that spark when he was unable to stop the senseless, preventable death of a child. And had gotten screamed at by frustrated, scared, or seemingly ungrateful people. And was running short staffed; exhausted and overworked.

The list could've kept going, grievances mounting up. Tyler found himself snapping at Josh for risking a broken neck-- “My shift was shitty enough, did you _want_ to make it even worse by being another Trauma code?”

Josh looked absolutely crestfallen, and he stammered an apology that had Tyler immediately backtracking. Tyler didn’t mean to hurt his feelings, but he was so constantly angry, he didn't know how to not react negatively. He felt even worse that Josh had cooked for him and put on one of their favorite Christmas movies.

Hesitant, as if approaching an animal who may bite, Josh tested a touch to Tyler’s shoulder, and Tyler relaxed into him on their perfectly comfortable couch. For as grumpy as he was, he was still affection starved and at least wanted to make things right before they went to bed.

Tyler vowed he'd change his attitude as he started to drift off to sleep on Josh’s chest-- he barely saw a minute of the movie, eyelids too heavy to stay open, especially when he felt so safe and loved and warm.

December was such a rollercoaster; every step forward brought a couple jumps backwards as the universe seemed to want to make Tyler a Scrooge.

“Josh… Josh…” Tyler said gently on the morning of December 22nd.

Tyler stroked his husband’s back. Josh always slept shirtless, and no matter how cold it was in their room, he radiated heat. They had blackout curtains installed because of how often they needed to try and sleep during the day. The tiniest separation in the curtains cast a single beat, which cut across their bed-- the only evidence besides the alarm clock glowing ‘9:47 AM’ that it was daytime.

The minimal light found Josh’s shoulder, and Tyler took a minute to revel in the tiny freckles.

“Josh,” Tyler just knew from the hitch in his breath, that Josh was waking up. “Babe, we both have the day off. How ‘bout some brunch?”

Josh made a noise of interest, but rolled over to bury his face in the pillow. Tyler climbed onto him, kissing the nape of his neck. “Cmon. Pancakes!”

Josh’s reply was muffled and Tyler shifted back to sit on his butt and let him lift up and breathe. “Pancakes, and then… ice skating?”

Tyler couldn't help the smile that curled across his face.

“Yeah of course!” The sleep had done him well, and Tyler was eager to change the tide of the season. “Let's do all that Christmas-y cute stuff.”

So quickly his head spun, Tyler found himself in a holiday sweater that matched Josh’s, his husband humming ‘ _Jingle Bells’_ as they walked to their favorite breakfast place. He felt the cloud of melancholy lift just by watching Josh devour peanut butter cup pancakes, the house speciality of _The Wake Up Cafe_.

He could leave behind the burden of work, of all the depressing things he'd seen, all the broken hearts of loved ones he couldn't save. Tyler had been good at compartmentalizing, and it was days like this that helped him face another shift in the ER.

Josh looked carefully at him. “Something wrong with your pancakes? You've barely had a bite to eat.” He pointed out.

Tyler shook his head. “It's fine. Just got distracted.”

Josh grinned at him, a little whipped cream on his chin that Tyler wiped away with his finger.

“Dude, you can't seductively lick your finger in public!” Josh protested.

“And why not?” Tyler replied saucily, still with the offending digit between his lips.

“Bro… you _know_ it does stuff to me…” Josh whispered, smirking.

“You're such a horn dog.” Tyler said with a mock air of superiority.

“Can't help it. I'm married to such a--”

Tyler was ninety-eight percent sure Josh was going to say something dirty, but the waitress stopped by and interrupted their flirting. If anything, they were such regulars that she'd probably seen enough of their flirting already. People that spent a lot of time around them barely batted an eye anymore.

…

They both finished Christmas shopping that afternoon and Tyler felt that he was slowly getting more into the holiday spirit, even singing some carols upon Josh’s request. He didn't care people were glancing at them everywhere they went-- ridiculous sweaters and a general cacophony-- it didn't matter so long as Josh squeezed his hand and requested another tune.

They did go ice skating after all, and tried their hardest to follow the crowd in simple loops, hand-in-hand. But they were nothing if not predictable.

“Tag, you're it!” Tyler shouted after a long 5 minutes of skating the easy way. He whacked Josh’s arm and then took off, skirting the unsteady children and slow-moving middle aged couples.

Josh stood there, surprised for a moment, before reacting as if he was in the gold medal race for Olympic speed skating. While Tyler was definitely the more competitive of the two, and the one to always start games like this, Josh wouldn't be complacent with being _it_.

Tyler got a good head start, fending Josh off for a lap or two before the margin narrowed. Tyler pulled every trick he could think of, dodging around everyone in his way. He laughed maniacally, glancing over his shoulder at a pink-faced Josh, who was trying hard to catch him.

Unfortunately, Tyler didn’t notice the wall, and he collided full speed with the Plexiglass. He bounced off and tipped over.

“Oof!” Josh had too much momentum and flung himself on the ground so as not to step on Tyler with the blades.

They ended up in a big heap, a pack of preteen boys laughing at them.

“You okay?” Josh asked, crushing Tyler’s body into the ice unintentionally

“With you on top of me? Yeah, pretty awesome, but this is kinda cold and… public.” Tyler replied, and wiggled him off.

Josh sat back, soaking the butt of his jeans, but laughed nonetheless. The two skated with more caution for the evening, before realizing the next day was an early shift for both of them. Hot cocoa in cold hands, they left the rink with the warm glow of Yuletide joy.

...

But for all the fun they had that day, once again the universe seemed to be focused on ruining Christmas for Tyler. He had to change his scrubs not once, not twice, but three times that shift; two major bleeders and a pooper, enough said.

“Babe, I’m hearing way too much from you today.” Josh said as Tyler called him for yet another patient having heart failure.

“Yeah, well we know full well that holidays mean food with extra sodium which just sends these cardiac patients into fluid overload.” Tyler was at his wits’ end, planning on adding an addendum to his mall public service announcement. “Can you just direct admit these patients? If they’ve _ever_ seen cardiologist, we’ll send them right up to you. Save me the paperwork, please?” Tyler whined.

Josh chuckled. “If only I could. So who am I coming down to evaluate now?”

The pros of the whole situation is that Tyler got to see Josh, though it was only in passing as he raced off to another room.

His feet ached almost as badly as they did when he first started working,

He found himself arguing pointlessly with a patient who insisted he didn’t put a candy cane up his… well the X-ray would contradict that. Tyler had one of those moments where he realized nothing he said would make a difference, and he resigned himself to the fate of having to fix the world’s mistakes.

Christmas Eve Eve, which was nearly as important as Christmas Eve proper, according to Josh, plainly sucked. Tyler comforted himself with the thought that at least he had Christmas Eve and Day off to snuggle with his husband and pretend that shift and all the other crappy ones hadn't happened.

Josh had been hinting all sorts of fun plans for the holiday, and Tyler was looking forward to whatever “breakfast in bed… and then breakfast in bed” meant, though he had a good idea what. It just felt like he'd be able to make it up to Josh, how Scrooge-y he'd been acting.

They weren’t able to go home to Columbus for the holidays this year, so they had reservations for a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve with another couple, and then were going to make Christmas dinner with just them. Quiet and intimate, and ruined in a matter of minutes.

The chairman of the Emergency Department called Tyler into his office saying that they were going to be short staffed for a double shift that would run from 9pm on Christmas Eve to twenty four hours later. Tyler’s stomach sank and he tried to get out of it, but his arm was twisted. There was no way out, and Tyler had to do it.

He had to miss Christmas.

He couldn’t doing anything about it, and Tyler knew Josh would be really hurt. Josh was going to be _left alone_ for all of Christmas. Tyler felt like the worst person ever, and he went home with his head hanging.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Josh had been sitting on the couch watching a Christmas movie.when Tyler stormed through the door, it slamming shut behind him. Josh had a Santa hat on, and Tyler felt a little part of him get warmed by the sweet sight, but then it was followed quickly by sadness that he was about to ruin their holiday plans.

“Have to freaking work Christmas!” Tyler exclaimed.

“What?!” Josh leapt to his feet. “What? No!”

“Yeah. Sucks.” Tyler kicked his shoes off, and knocked over a plastic Santa that was standing in the corner.

Josh hurried over to check that Santa was okay. “Dude, calm d--”

“I'm not gonna calm down! I'm sick of this crap!” Tyler felt irate, irrational. Josh stepped closer, reaching out to touch Tyler’s shoulder.

“We can still make it a good holiday. We can do gifts and everything tomorrow-”

“Enough with the Christmas shit!” Tyler exploded and Josh pulled his hand away quickly. “It's only making everything worse. I can't _deal_ with this fake-happy crap. I'm miserable and I don't want to celebrate _anything_ right now!”

“Ty…” Josh tried to placate, but Tyler stormed off to their bedroom.

He figured he may as well sleep, try to break this mood, and forgetting the old  marriage advice of ‘never go to bed angry’. Tyler tossed and turned for what felt like forever, but despite the late hour, Josh never came to bed that night, as far as Tyler knew.

…

Tyler woke fully intending to apologize and try to reclaim the day as much as possible, but the house was empty. He walked around, looking for Josh, assuming that he was not responding because of headphones blasting music--that had happened many times before.

But nothing. No Josh anywhere, just a note on the fridge saying ‘Seems like you need some space. I’ll be out today. I love you --Josh’.

He felt awful, the culmination of all his anger and lashing out the past month. He knew Josh was very hurt; he’d only been trying his best to make Tyler happy. Even though it’d been so tense lately, Josh had been nothing but patient. It was his favorite time of the year, and he’d been selflessly attempting to get Tyler to feel that magic.

No wonder Josh had made himself scarce for the day, believing that forcing cheer would just make it all worse.

Tyler thought for awhile, sitting himself behind the piano Josh got him the previous Christmas. Playing soft notes without any direction always helped him to clear his mind and reflect.

He’d been so miserable, and while there was nothing to change about what happened _to him_ , he could change how he reacted. Tyler knew he needed more self care, and if it kept being this bad at work, there was nothing wrong with looking for a job elsewhere.

Tyler felt a sense of peace, and already had a mental list of New Year’s Resolutions by the time to meet for the dinner with the other couple. He could only stay for a little bit, just popping in for a drink and appetizer. Josh was definitely surprised to see him, and they tried to act normal, though the undiscussed argument hung in the air between them.

They shared a brief kiss hello and goodbye. Tyler tried to be peppy, but his mind was elsewhere-- on the shift that was a few hours away from happening, and how the heck he was going to get out of it.

“Good luck.” Josh said with trepidation to him as he had to make his early departure.

“Merry Christmas.” Tyler tried to send the warmth to Josh, tried to make okay. The small smile in response was enough the ease the tight knot in his chest that formed whenever the love of his life was sad.

Tyler knew he had to pull off a Christmas miracle.

…

Josh had always woken up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day, peeking downstairs to see if Santa had made it to his house. His siblings and him would argue when they should wake up their parents. Their impatience could get them in big trouble, because before 7am was not allowed. The four of them would pace, little feet waking their parents up after all, and then they would stampede down the stairs. Shrieks of surprise and excitement could not be held back, and wrapping paper flew like snowflakes in a blizzard.

He didn’t expect that joy or excitement. His family was a plane flight away, and his husband was stuck at work. Josh fell asleep in a cold bed, and knew he’d be waking up with half the usual warmth missing. He had fun with their friends the night before, and while things were still unresolved, at least the strain had eased between him and Tyler.

For the first time ever, Josh wanted Christmas to pass because it felt like it was the root of all their recent problems. Until now, he never understood why people say that the holidays are the roughest time of the year. It was sobering to realize that only stress came with this month.

A crash woke him up, and Josh found himself jumping out of bed way too early on Christmas, just like he always did as a kid. This time it wasn’t of his own volition, but it was to receive a present.

“What the--?” Josh exclaimed, grabbing the bedside lamp to use as a weapon against the red-and-white figure crumbled on the floor beneath the open window.

“Ho, ho, ho.” The Santa-impersonator said, winded.

“Tyler?” Josh asked with astonishment, and he put down the lamp.”What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I was, but I managed to get someone to cover the rest of my shift. I’m here! I’m gonna be here for all of Christmas!” Tyler winced as Josh offered him a hand to help him stand up. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Tried being all sneaky climbing through the window, but these big Santa boots got caught.”

“Are you serious? All day? How’d you get off? And where’d you find this costume?” Josh dusted the snow off Tyler’s shoulders, flakes clinging to his beautifully full eyelashes and sparkling in the early morning light coming through the window. A cold breeze was unfelt by either of them, as they smiled at each other in wonder.

“Yes, I’m serious. We can spend _all_ of Christmas together. And as for finding someone to cover, of all days, Christmas… well, good news Alonzo is getting a divorce.  Uh, I guess that isn’t good news for him, but uh, he said he’d cover me since he didn’t feel like celebrating after all. And as for the costume… I have my ways.”

“You’re the best.” Josh kissed him hard, pulling him close to make it all real. The very real fear of spending his favorite day alone had almost happened and now he didn’t want to let go just in case it was a waking dream.

They spent a perfect day cooking, unwrapping gifts, and Facetiming their families to see them unwrap the gifts they got each other. It was so much fun, that it was worth the month of weekend shifts he’d been covering for Alonzo that Tyler had promised. It felt like a fresh start, and also a reminder and a return to the things that truly matter.

It was the worst Christmas season, but the best Christmas Day, and in the end that’s all they really remembered.

**Author's Note:**

> teeentyonepilots on tumblr. I've been so busy with finals that I was unable to do my second Christmas fic idea, but hopefully next year I'll be able to post it. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. What did y'all get for the holiday?


End file.
